


Beyond Indulgence

by ChloboShoka



Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Gravitation, 逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Genre: Gen, Metal bands, crossover crack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:20:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28085349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChloboShoka/pseuds/ChloboShoka
Summary: Years after leaving Bad Luck and doing broadway theatre, Hiroshi becomes the male vocalist for a band named Beyond Indulgence. He's the only man in the band which causes controversy and the band itself made some very unique music.





	Beyond Indulgence

**Beyond Indulgence  
**New Vocalist

* * *

I'm Hiroshi Nakano, and I'm the new singer of _Beyond Indulgence_. I never had the training, but when I was in _Bad Luck,_ I'd sometimes provide backing vocals, and then it came to a point where Shuichi wanted to hear Suguru and I sing some parts, and he was amazed, and that's when I knew that I could sing. After I left Bad Luck, I ended up going into Broadway Theatre. I've played as Sweeney Todd and Raoul from Phantom Of The Opera. The last role I played in was Gaston in Beauty And The Beast, and I really enjoyed it, and I will miss it! But it's time to kiss goodbye to my Broadway career.

Broadway really helped me take control over my problems because as a lot of people have known that I had twins, one of them died, and it put a strain on a lot of the relationships I had. Losing a child, it stays with you for the rest of your life, so I still get depressed when I think about it. It was difficult to remain calm, but now I feel ready to take on the world again.

I met Olga during a friendly game of poker. After the game, she introduced me to Viola, April, Rika, Kay and Ema for a session. I recorded a demo with the band, and they really liked it, and I liked them... the rest is history.

I'm really excited to join girls on our Ritual Passion tour this October. It's going to be really interesting how things will work on tour. Beyond Indulgence's music has always been very dark and mysterious. I think with me things are going to change. I hope they will be a good chance. I'll promise to stay faithful to the old songs. I'm pleased that I'm playing on lead guitar.

Beyond Indulgence is pretty hard to give a genre to, but Viola says we are a gothic metal band with influences of death metal, hard rock and classical music. It's a word away from Bad Luck and Broadway musicals, I know. I've been lucky to know a circle of talented people. Shuichi Shindou is my best friend, and he inspires me every day, even when we don't see each other. The girls are no different... I think my favourite Beyond Indulgence songs are Invisible Flute, The Beautiful Objection, Forever Ice and Vitality. I find it hard to compare Olga's lyrics to Shuichi's, to be honest, because they're both amazing writers but with contrasting styles. I mean Olga is aggressive while Shuichi is romantic so I think we'll leave the comparisons there.

See you all!

* * *

"You look really goofy in that video," Rika told Hiroshi. "I think that's the main reason why there's so much interest in Ritual Passion."

Hiroshi knew he was taking a big risk for leaving Broadway for an all-female metal band. He knew that the majority of his fans would have wanted him to return to Bad Luck. He didn't want to go back to there, at least not in the state it's in at the moment. Hiroshi disliked the guy who replaced Fujisaki, whereas Shuichi adored Yamato. Then again, he always had a soft spot for blonds. Hiro laughed when he discovered Bad Luck had replaced him with a blond rock star/lawyer Klavier Gavin.

Bad Luck is still doing well for themselves. They've had three platinum albums since Hiro quit the band, but he found the music wasn't his kind of style. Hiroshi had grown fond of metal for its power and unique way of bringing people together. He had grown so fond of it, that he even started to dislike some of his material in Bad Luck secretly. Hiroshi believed that their music hadn't been as good since Fujisaki left the band.

"Remember you're not in a pop group anymore," Viola hissed until her breaths turned to laughter. He knew Viola was only teasing him. "You can't afford to be goofy. Otherwise, our fans will think we've become mainstream whores. Olga would punish you... quietly."

"You mean the miserable bunch that will always find something to complain about?" Hiroshi shrugged it off.

"You can't think about them like that," Viola giggled. "They pay our wage."

"I thought we were in it for the passion and not the money."

"You've got be on your best behaviour..."

Beyond Indulgence's leader, Olga Orly marched into the studio, walking over the mountains of paper. Thick scarlet lips stood out from her lukewarm cheeks and careless curls. Her eyes were on Hiroshi as if she wanted to pounce at him. She tiptoed to the corner. The rest of the band where silent as she sat next to her beloved harpsichord between her piano and electronic keyboard. Her hands collapsed together as her lips curled into a smile.

"Our Ritual Passion Tour will be epic," Olga promised. "We must continue to sound as bombastic as possible."

"Oh, really?" Hiroshi asked.

"Very funny Hiroshi." Olga's eye contact on Hiroshi made it very clear that she had his eye on him. "You can be a cheeky monkey, but I am sure you will provide Beyond Indulgence the essence of change that I desire." Olga's quick fingers jived on the keys. "You should all practise!" Olga demanded.

Hiroshi revised Olga's lyrics and thought of how to impress her.

* * *

It had been five years since Hiroshi had left Bad Luck, the band he started with his best friend, Shuichi Shindou. He remembered the Bad Luck sessions as if they were only yesterday. A typical session would include Shuichi talking about his love life, taking each criticism to heart and testing Suguru's patience. After their fifth album flopped in Japan, Suguru left the band to perform his own projects.

To take Suguru's place was Yamato Ishida, a blond rocker who previously owned a band called Teenage Wolves. He was considered a hero with his talent on bass and previous fame with his involvement in Digimon. He was calm and relaxed, but he frequently conflicted with Shuichi for creative and personal differences. Within the two years, they were in the band together, Hiro felt as if he had never seen the real Yamato under that smug mask.

Ayaka was expecting a new child. Hiroshi's first child was a set of twins, but one of them passed away. Hiroshi wanted to be there for his wife, but she gave birth whilst touring in Europe. He was determined not to miss his second child's birth. It was one of the hardest decisions in his career. Shuichi reacted cold to Suguru's departure and tried to pretend that the band never needed him.

That day after the Whirlwind Tour, Hiroshi sat in a meeting with a band and told them straight he was leaving. The look of horror on Shuichi's face was indescribable whilst the rest of them looked there shocked. Their manager K was surprisingly supportive and acted as if he understood the situation. K and Matt were the only people in the room to congratulate him for his wife's pregnancy and wished him good luck in the future.

He wasn't surprised that his replacement had blonde hair. Shuichi had always had a thing for blondes. If Hiro had exchanged his auburn locks, Shuichi would have never wanted to let him go. But Hiro never regretted leaving Bad Luck. K had brought in a prosecutor called Klavier Gavin who had his own successful band called The Gavinners at one point. Klavier was also classically trained, just like Suguru. To top that, Klavier was ten times a better musician in both vocals and guitar. Bad Luck was up and running again.

A lot of people in Beyond Indulgence knew Klavier very well. He was one of Ema's colleges when he was working in Law. His return to music remains a mystery because he vowed to stay away from music when the Gavinners disbanded. He had helped towards the production and songwriting for Beyond Indulgence's first album, The Beautiful Objection and he had even contributed his soothing vocals to the album.

Since joining Bad Luck, the media liked to portray him as a God and sometimes a male diva. Hiro has met Klavier many times, more often then he meets Shuichi. He was one of the nicest guys he had ever met. He was confident that Shuichi would get along with Klavier fine. If he could handle the crazy women in his band, he could get along with Shuichi easily.

Although there where times when Hiro thought he should take those words back. Shuichi had always been quick-tempered and sometimes a jealous man, but the media took it all out of proportion and labelled Shuichi as an aggressive monster. The girls from Beyond Indulgence only knew the Shuichi portrayed in the media, not the best friend Hiro knew.

Beyond Indulgence were once again practising for their Ritual Passion Tour. The session had become a ritual delight for Olga, Viola and April who had founded the band years ago. Tom Viola, the violin was her birth right. Her loyal companion was the voice of her emotions. Dressed by the darkness in her slender black dress and raven hair. She was also the granddaughter of the untouchable mob boss Bruto Cadaverini. Ema seemed to be frightened of him. She worked as a detective, but the band knew her true passion was science. Ema was always late for sessions; sometimes the band is lucky if she ever turns up at all. April had been arrested for phone tapping. Olga nearly got convicted for lying in the court. The drummer was often a troublemaker, but Kay had good intentions.

The only member of the band that didn't seem to have trouble in the law was Rika, which was ironic because out of all of the girl's Rika seemed to be the most rebellious. The iciest attitude and overall image. The girls would wear dresses; Rika would wear jeans and a tank top. She also had a Digimon as Yamato did. Renamon was a yellow fox who vowed eternal loyalty to Rika. That blue broken heart pattern on her shirt was also part of the Beyond Indulgence logo.

Renamon and Rika weren't as outgoing as Yamato and Gabumon were. Renamon would often hide in the shadows and only make public appearances when danger was coming. Gabumon and Yamato made public appearances all the time and had even performed duets at one point.

"I've just written the first song of our new album," Olga told her band-mates. "It's just a demo at the moment, but the final cut will be fantastic."

"Already?" asked Rika.

"The album will be called Diamond Storm," Olga announced. "So we'll be expected to make an album of a diamond standard." She curled her lips at Hiro and read the lyrics out. A piece of paper in her hand, but she wasn't looking at it. She wasn't singing the words, but she spoke in pride as if talking about a newborn baby.

_A dreamer bewitched, his morals ditched_  
_Watch me bow before you blindly_  
_Listen to the cries in the distance_  
_They yearn for your promised presence_

_I've many mistakes in my time...  
_ _but I will never regret  
bowing before a dreamer_

_They'll find their way back in the end  
Slaying a thousand demons  
They'll heal the blind and deaf  
Drowning the evil monsters  
_ _All with a wooden arrow  
_ _Saving a village of sorrow_

_My Diamond storm will soothe the tension  
_ _On another day we will_ _save the world once again_

* * *

Rika and Hiro stood on stage. While the rest of their band-mates were out shopping, Olga told Rika and Hiro that they had to stay and work on their vocals. Rika didn't like the shopping trips anyway, and Hiro found it too feminine for his taste. There were going to be some cameramen coming for an interview. They wondered if they knew that Olga, April, Viola, Ema and Kay had gone out shopping and would probably not be back until an hour before their performance starts.

"Tonight's the first date of the Ritual Passion Tour," Rika announced. "This is the first time the band's ever performed to a stadium. It will be okay for you since you performed in front of millions before. "

"Are you nervous?"

"No," Rika shrieked. "I'm not nervous at all."

Hiro could tell she was lying. Her arms were shivering, and her arms had folded. Rika wasn't facing Hiro either. Whenever Rika spoke to someone, she would always look at the person directly in the eye. Hiro didn't have as much singing parts as Rika, in the Ritual Passion album, but Olga promised him that he'd be able to sing a lot more in the next album.

"You seem to be," Hiro told her. "You did brilliantly at the Broadway."

Most of the band's fans knew that Hiro and Rika first met when they were both rehearsing for Beauty And The Beast. Rika had played the leading role of Belle whilst Hiro played the role of antagonist, Gaston. Rika showered with confidence back then, just how Shuichi boomed with confidence on the stage. Shuichi froze completely when he was nervous on stage; it happened at their first concert. It took his idol, Ryuchi to gain his senses back.

Those were the days, but now Bad Luck consists of three blondes. Shuichi had already left the band two years ago. Something between Shuichi, Yamato and Klavier and it involved Eiri. Shuichi had told Yamato, and Klavier a secret and they couldn't keep it. And it leads to Shuichi leaving the band he loved and killing himself because he couldn't bear to see Eiri in prison. Tohma bailed Eiri out, and Klavier was no longer allowed to work in law again. Hiro didn't know the full details, but he didn't feel the need to either as long as Shuichi was safe and happy.

But he didn't like the band that Bad Luck was now. Hiro hated their twelfth album, _Serious Business_. He didn't know how it even got pass NG Records. Hiro felt bad for not liking it because it was the last album they did with Shuichi and the lead single S E X X X Y was hilarious, although Hiro thought that was pretty bad too. Serious Business with their new singer, Jun was a struggle to listen to. It wasn't Jun's fault; he was a really great singer. Hiro had also heard Bad Luck's 13th album, Leather Ink and as far as Hiro concerned it wasn't a Bad Luck album. It was a fantastic album, but it was no Bad Luck album. If there was no Shuichi, there was no Bad Luck.

"I was someone else then," Rika snapped in response to Hiro's comment. "I'm just me at this performance."

"What did you think of Olga's new song?" Hiro asked Rika.

"It's as insane as ever," Rika replied. She stepped forward to sat down on the floor. "When she writes songs by herself, it's a mystery what they'll end up like, but when we write songs together, they're perfect. When you joined the group, the band had already written and performed all the demos for the songs, but we felt that we needed a male vocalist for them."

"That's why you introduced me to Olga," Hiro said.

Rika nodded. A fox shaped figure appeared from the shadows and stood behind Rika. Rika looked up, then faced the floor. It was Renamon, Rika's most trusted partner.

"You will be terrific," Renamon whispered to Rika. "You will not disappoint." Renamon's words had given Rika that instant confidence boost. Rika looked up to the crowd and held her mic, ready to sing.

_Tiny flakes are swinging to and throw._

_Lying face down on the snow_

_Bowing before the ice queen_

_Who they'll never see_

_As she's cruel and pristine_

_Forever Ice_

_Antarctica's garden growing through the singing sun_

_As the sons and daughters ski to the sacred life_

_A warn bed evokes their drive to faith._

_Summer will dance when she's ready._

_Because she said that you were sold_

_A winter storm will lock summer._

_Blazing Snow so old_

_Shines a star in every soul_

* * *

The Ritual Passion album was both a new album and a compilation of songs at the same time. The first disc contained songs from the first three albums rerecorded with Hiro's vocals and guitars. The second disc composed of fourteen songs; twelve new and two covers. Ritual Passion was one of their longest albums to date and the first and probably only time that they'll ever do a double album.

The band were completely exhausted. Ema was so close to leaving the band because she wanted to just get on with the new era. She didn't want to leave the old songs untouched in the studio. Olga ignored her concerns and accused Ema of being too pessimistic and not giving Hiro a proper welcome he deserved.

Fans, both old and new, were interested in how they would kick their tour off. They were curious about how the new songs would sound and how the old songs would adapt to suit Hiro's style. A metal band that used a violin, a xylophone and a mixture of opera and jazz was almost unheard of. Although mixing classical music and rock was a common cliché, few bands could truly master it and make it their own. Beyond Indulgence was one of those rare bands.

Beyond Indulgence opened the performance with the title track from their debut album, The Beautiful Objection. Olga admitted it was a safe way to start the show. She wanted to save all the risks for later on. An explosive introduction is fine, but make it too jazzy then the rest of the show will become stale in comparison, that was what Olga said.

The Beautiful Objection was a disturbing rock ballad with hints of jazz. Hiro's idea of safe is very different from Olga's idea of safe. Klavier Gavin, the man who replaced him in Bad Luck, had co-written this song with the band. He was a guest vocalist for their first album. Although Klavier was just a session member, his contributions to the band were outstanding. It was Klavier who had brought the girls together in the first place, and this was while he was still in Bad Luck.

Despite all their nerves, the audience cheered for the group with their arms in the air. They quickly warmed to the stage presence of Beyond Indulgence. Rika looks half as frightened as she did before the audience. Meanwhile, April's corset looked as if it were about to explode, which would explain why she was stiff compared to rehearsals.

_Drowned by the rudeness of my world_  
_Trapped by my lust for enchantment_  
_Oceans covers my tracks_  
_with a small paradise called home_

_There's a morbid atmosphere_  
_Surrounding you_  
_You lure me to the truth_  
_The only gift I'll ever get_  
_is the beautiful objection_

_The black remains of soldiers_  
_None of them survived_  
_They did not have a chance_  
_Against thy fire_

_They died, and they'll die again_  
_They died, and they'll die again_

_Watch me swim in the red river_  
_It's all yours_  
_I dare you to blacken me_

Olga dashed to the centre of the stage, stole Hiro's microphone. With one fist in the air, she yelled, "Thank you!" Olga returned the microphone to Hiro and ran back to her keyboard." The next song is Ritual Passion." The lights in the theatre faded as Viola fiddled with her violin as she stroked it like a new-born kitten. Olga's quick fingers embraced her keyboard. Blue lights shine down on Hiro and Rika who were to sing the song as a duet.

_To offer lovingly around these sheets  
We will dream under paradise  
Venus is calling the Aphrodite inside of you on open light land.  
Through ritual passion_

_But one morning, one smooth morning,  
We decided to wash too much.  
Together we kiss a dove.  
It was crazy, so crazy._

_She bit a ghost.  
Alas, a ghost!  
My precious queen, a ghost.  
It was strong, so strong._

_I'll be the one who loves your body when it rots.  
_ _I'll knit your heart into a crown when destiny fades._

After a long orchestral outro, Beyond Indulgence threw themselves straight into their next song Forever Ice without an introduction at all. Forever Ice was intended to be as haunting as possible. Olga also said that the Lavender Town theme was a great influence on the song. To Hiro, the song was innocent, but at the same time, there was also a slice of danger into the song that made it very compelling.

_Tiny flakes are swinging to and throw._

_Lying face down on the snow_

_Bowing before the ice queen_

_Who they'll never see_

_As she's cruel and pristine_

_Forever Ice_

_Antarctica's garden growing through the singing sun_

_As the sons and daughters ski to the sacred life_

_A warn bed evokes their drive to faith._

_Summer will dance when she's ready._

_Because she said that you were sold_

_A winter storm will lock summer._

_Blazing Snow so old_

_Shines a star in every soul_

_First your heart and then the world_

**Perish Song**

_In battlefield!_ _You should have kept your mouth shut._ _  
_ _In battlefield! I should never have met you._ _  
_ _In battlefield! I should have been the one to have fallen._ _  
_ _In battlefield! You betrayed everyone you've ever known._

_Look in the river  
See all the corpses  
Floating so peacefully  
Along the bank  
_

_Look to the floor  
See how it's red  
Their broken hearts  
Will flood this world_

_Innocence rest in peace  
Rest in peace_

**Shelter**

_My love_ _dreaming at Egypt_  
_Your r_ _iver always flowing._  
_My therapy_ _Clearly gently softly._

_My Master will never be after energy._  
_Seasoned wonderous Shelter_  
_Slowly being Shelter_  
_Gently Master quickly_  
_Touching_ _paradise_

_Playing beyond  
Sliding going to open  
It is the sun  
To wonder between paradise.  
To hear towards Mercury.  
Dancing slowly under clear Shelter_

**Rot In Peace**

_We thought over the same vegetables.  
And I won_

_Rot in peace honey_  
_I'll see you later_  
_Red suits you sweetheart_

_Don't cry in your grave.  
Your sins were the deepest.  
You shall never rape my sun again._

"Did you enjoy that?" April asked. The crowd cheered, but the volume was only a fraction of what the screaming xylophone player wanted to hear. "I can't hear you?" April grunted. "Did you enjoy that performance?" By using her vocal technique, the crowd cried even louder. "For the next song, I want you all to be loud... because I want you to ROAR WITH ME!"

The song needed no introduction. Everyone in the room knew what the song was all about and what it was called.

_ROAR!_  
_The edge is not worthy_  
_Kissing a steel samurai_  
_Will lead you to decay_

_ROAR!_  
_Can you not see it?_  
_The true filth underneath_  
_The bleeding glamour_  
_With silly frills on top_

_ROAR!_  
_You do not need justice._  
_Your world is all in the vein._  
_Trying to be perfect._  
_While your destiny is flawed._

_ROAR!_  
_You are plastic melting in the beat._  
_Fry your hypocrisy let the true logic burn._

_ROAR!_

"What do you think of our pop boy?" Viola hissed. "Good, because he's leading the next song."

"The next song is Burning Heart!"

_Don't you remember me?  
Oh, yes, I think you know me very well.  
It was you who turned off my vital signs.  
You're the one who left me to die.  
With a burning heart_

_And you're licking the flames._  
_Melting the frames of our bond_  
_There's smoke in my pulse._  
_It's poisoning us_  
_And only I can see..._  
_With a burning heart._

_No water can cool me  
We are cursed  
I don't even know how these ashes will collide.  
With our burning hearts_

"This is the last song of the night," Hiro announced. "Thank you all for coming, and I hope you enjoyed our concert. This last song is a favourite of ours, and it's called Cult As Fuck."

_OH YEAH_  
_PISS ON MORALS_  
_BASHING THE RULES_  
_EJECTED FROM CHAINS_  
_KISSING SERPENTS_  
_ROBBING THE DUCKS_  
_CULT AS FUCK_

_WE BREATHE THE_  
_MEMOIRS OF HELL_  
_THE GOLDEN TREASURY LIES_  
_BATTLE ROYALE 3000_  
_WE EMBRACE LOONY ATMOSPHERE_  
_BECAUSE_  
_IT IS_  
_CULT AS FUCK_

* * *

"That was a good performance," Olga told her band. "I couldn't have asked for a better."

"Please don't make us create another 18 track album again," Ema requested, munching on a plateful of nuts. "That was so tiring to make."

Olga laughed and assured her with enthusiasm. "We have ten tracks for the next album."

"Thank goodness for that," Ema said, expressing a sigh of relief. "I can't wait.

It was odd for Hiro. Bad Luck was always churning out singles, and most bands released a single or at least an EP nowadays. Beyond Indulgence had been around since That was the way Olga rolled: no teasers, no tricks. She believed releasing singles would only clog up their discography. A single could promote Beyond Indulgence and give them a more extended audience, but Viola's hatred towards commercialism made promotion a lot harder than most bands. Viola didn't want to let her fans down and thought doing anything that would make them popular would betray their fans.

Hiro was in a band that made the top ten hits in commercial charts all over the world. He had a family and enough money to give his wife and kids a luxury pad for the rest of their lives. He seemed to have had it all. He was the sort of person Viola hated. To make matters worse, Viola and April were an item. April was a promiscuous lady herself, who shamelessly flirts with any man her eyes lay on. There was no need to wonder who she had been flirting with the most recent. Viola was only jealous of Hiro. He hoped overtime the envy would subside.

Even though the edition of Hiro pleased most fans, there were also a lot of complaints based on Hiro's gender. They use to be an all-female metal band, so certain fans got their kicks out of seeing April's breasts popping out of her corset. He had seen some comments like _"I can't masturbate to this because the guy is in the way", "The dude ruins it",_ and _"Beyond Indulgence is an all-female metal band. What's this fag doing there?"_

It seemed to annoy Rika more than it annoyed Hiro himself. He still thought that some of the fans of metal music were morons. Does it really matter what gender the main vocalist is? Hiro believed as long as the music was good, gender was unimportant. For the time being, it was best to keep it to himself. Viola would have been furious, and she could have easily lured her grandfather to lure an assassin to kill him.

"I've written ten piano pieces," Olga announced again. "I want to play them to see if you think that they're good enough for Diamond Storm."

"I'm sure they'll be brilliant," Kay responded with sheer praise. "You are a fantastic musician, Olga."

"I hear that from a lot of people," Olga confessed. "To come from my bandmates, it means a lot to me." Olga blushed and bowed to her band, "I thank you all."

"Have you heard?" Kay said. "Bad Luck is making a new album."

"There's no _Bad Luck_ without Shuichi," Hiro snapped. Everyone in the green room faced Hiro. He tried to look in another direction where nobody was looking at his eyes. It was an awkward moment, and he noticed a camera in the corner of the ceiling and hoped it didn't have audio. It just had to come out. Hiro stuttered and tried to find words to explain his outburst. "I hope I don't like a jerk. I have nothing against the new line up; I just think they're irrelevant without Shuichi that's all."

"Commercialism should not be discussed," Viola growled. She clenched onto her handkerchief and bit her lip. "...positively."

"I never said anything about commercialism."

"Bad Luck is a commercial band," Viola whispered. "Manufactured like tortured puppets. You are lucky to be free."

"Not every commercial band are tortured puppets," Hiro told Viola.

"You're so polite..." It was the first time Viola had ever complimented Hiro.

"It's nice to see you all get along so well," Olga observed the bond between her band. Olga jumped, picked up a camera on the table and with a huge smile, squealed, "it's time to take pictures!"

Just how Bad Luck's music used to be Shuichi's vision of the world, Beyond Indulgence's music was Olga's vision. After being arrested for being an accessory for murder, she had become diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder. The diagnosis happened long before Hiro had joined the group, but as he had studied to become a doctor, he noticed Olga had strong symptoms of the disorder. The two personalities she had, it was almost as if there were two women in Olga's body. The waitress Olga was shy and timid and played gentle music whilst the poker Olga was bold and darkening. Olga found making music therapeutic, but at the same time nearly drives herself to despair when she has arguments with herself over whether her compositions are great or poor. When it came to music, it was usually the poker Olga who made a bigger impact.

Waitress Olga loved photography. Any excuse to use a camera and she would go for it. Not a phone camera, Waitress Olga prefered a real camera and didn't quite understand the world of technology. Poker Olga had always had a camera around her neck just in case.

* * *

Beyond Indulgence continued to go from strength to strength. Their next two albums, Diamond Storm and 12 Maidens were pretty big hits. Hiro managed to bump into Suguru at a party. Even though the two of them exchanged over the internet and on the phone, Hiro couldn't help but feel that Suguru was still bitter over what happened that lead him to leave Bad Luck. Hiro left Bad Luck behind him years ago, but he knew that Suguru and Shuichi would love to reunite with Hiro and make some new music. The problem was, Hiro, Suguru and Shuichi had never sat in a room together in years. Shuichi was the last person to know that Suguru had left the band, and Shuichi's departure was anything but graceful.

Hiro had tried to like Bad Luck's new material without Shuichi, but he just couldn't get over the fact that Bad Luck was Shuichi's band. Of course, Hiro had been a co-founder of Bad Luck it was his claim to fame, but Bad Luck was mainly Shuichi's idea. Shuichi was the one who thought it all up in the first place. Even before they had a contract with NG, Shuichi and Hiro were spending days as a band doing sessions in their bedroom. Hiro had felt that when Suguru left, Bad Luck had lost the edgy compositions that made them unique, and when Shuichi left, Bad Luck had died.

Jun, Klavier and Matt were talented musicians, but the fact they were still carrying on with the name Bad Luck was unacceptable. Hiro didn't want to offend any of the new members since he was now on good terms with all of them. No matter what anyone said, to Hiro, there was no Bad Luck without Shuichi. It was as simple as that. Hiro could understand why Ryuichi was so annoyed with them. Bad Luck was still selling well without Shuichi, but that was only because Bad Luck was so buried in the commercialism that the band he started with Shuichi and the current line up were two completely separate bands. No raw innocence just artificial sweetness with a sour core. The kind of music that Hiro's current bandmates firmly stood against.

It was a shame what happened to Bad Luck, but at the same time, it turned into a blessing. Suguru was working with Shuichi on his solo albums, and despite their differences, they were working really well together. Suguru even said that he hoped that Hiro could join a session with them one day. But Hiro considered it to be a real relief that he was a member of Beyond Indulgence. They had lost a couple of members along the way, but the band had yet to have serious fallout. April had to leave to serve another prison sentence. Ema left to spend more time with her real passion: forensics. Kay had left the band to spend more time with her family. So it left Beyond Indulgence as a quartet with Hiro, Olga, Rika and Viola.

"Don't panic," Olga said the day after Kay left. "We can still carry on with Beyond Indulgence."

"You know things have been very hectic lately," Rika said. "I think maybe we should have a break. Hiro hasn't seen his family for a long time. I'm missing home, and I'm sure Viola will want a rest too."

"I still have my company to take care off," Viola giggled. Hiro didn't know much about Viola's company, but rumour has it that Viola owns a loan shark company. She was also the beloved granddaughter of a legendary mob boss. She could be the richest member of the band. Hiro didn't even earn as much as Viola did as a member of Bad Luck.

"I see," Olga said. She frowned. "I've been having the time of my life. I hoped that we could make another album after the tour. But if you guys are so tired, I guess we can all have a break."

"That's great," said Rika, who looked like she wanted to jump for joy, but had too much of an attitude to do so.

The fanbase began to behave a bit better with Hiro now. Gender had no longer became an issue, and when they were on stage, they were welcomed with thunders of praise. He was beginning to love each day as a member of the band. After another successful tour, Hiro had finally come home to silence. His wife, son and daughter, laid fast asleep on the couch, clinging onto welcome home banners.

"Sorry I'm late," Hiro whispered.

Looking back, Hiro could say that he did have the time of his life with Beyond Indulgence. But as the band were now on a hiatus, he wouldn't say no to a reunion with Suguru and Shuichi.


End file.
